Horseshoe Bay

A town and a body of water in British Columbia, part of Metro Vancouver, but west of Vancouver proper. Horseshoe bay is a small bay jutting in to the mountains alongside the sea-to-sky highway, west of West Vancouver and north-west of the Burrard Inlet, and it is the name of the town on its shores. It's a small town with an unusual number of tourist-oriented souvenir shops and restaurants and cafés, because Horseshoe Bay's main claim to fame is as the home of a major ferry terminal, it being the main port of departure for all the gulf islands and for Nanaimo on the north end of Vancouver Island. The car-lineup for the various ferries dominates Horseshoe Bay all day on weekends and holidays, and the town seems to slump a little on weekdays when the flow slows a bit.